192 ARENA. 
time came in sight of a hill, whicli might be distant about ten 
miles, close to which, the natives say, lies the town of Zulla, 
belonging to the Hazorta. Near this spot I was delighted 
with the sight of a great many pieces of a black substance, bear- 
ing a very high polish, much resembling glass, that lay scat- 
tered about on the ground at a short distance from the sea ; and 
I collected nearly a hundred specimens of it, most of which were 
two, three or four inches in diameter. One of the natives told 
me, that a few miles further in the interior, pieces are found of 
much larger dimensions. This substance has been analyzed since 
my return to England, and proves to be the true opsian, or obsi- 
dian, stone, which answers mostexactly to the following description 
given by Pliny : Among the different sorts of glass may be enu- 
merated the obsidian, made to resemble a stone found by Obsidius 
in .Ethiopia, of a very deep black colour, sometimes a little trans- 
parent, (on the edges) but opaque in its general appearance, 
(when in a mass) and reflecting images, like mirrors, placed against 
a wall. Many make gems of it, and we have seen solid images 
of the divine Augustus cut out of this substance ; who ordered 
four obsidian elephants to be placed, as curiosities, in the Temple 
of Concord, &c.''* It is evident from this description, that, though 
* In genere vitri et obsidiana numerantur, ad similitudinem lapidis quern in Ethiopia 
invenit Obsidius, nigerrimi colons, aliquando et translucidi, crassiore visu, atque in spe- 
culis parietum pro imagine umbras reddente. Gemmas multi ex eo faciunt : vidimusque 
et solidas imagines divi Augusti, capti materia hujus crassitudinis : dicavitque ipse pro 
miraculo in Templo Concordiae obsidianos quatuor elepbantos. Remisit et Tiberius 
Caesar Heliopolitarum ceremoniis re[ ertam ibi in haereditate ejus qui praefuerat ^gypto, 
obsidianam imaginem Menelai. Ex quo apparet antiquior materia origo, nunc vitri 
similitudine interpollata. 
